The A Team
by Narutard180
Summary: Naruto has an idea that helps Sasuke defeat his brother. This is NOT yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Unwanted Conclusions**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is to awesome to belong to me.(cries)**

**Summary: Naruto has an idea that helps Sasuke defeat his brother.**

After a day of D-rank missions team seven was exhausted. Sasuke and Naruto stayed at the training grounds to spar before heading home. After an hour of evasive maneuvers Sasuke finally cornered Naruto. "You are really good at running away, but you suck at fighting one on one Dobe." Sasuke said after pinning Naruto."Well I didn't evade the Anbu for hours just get bested by a genin now did I." Naruto replied with a big grin. "Why do you think no one else in the village does pranks on my scale. The Anbu have ways of knocking that out of you."

"Then why do you still do pranks, surely the Anbu caught you once or twice."

"That's the thing actually. After all the pranks and evasions, the Hokage thought this would be a good exercise for the Anbus since we are currently in a time of peace. If the Anbus could catch me after a prank before time ran out then they put me in interrogation with the rest of the pranksters. If not, well better luck next time."

Sasuke looked confused before voicing his thoughts. "Why do they have you do this, instead of other Anbu?"

"Well I'm a genius. Not like you of course, I don't get all that technical stuff. But I'm a genius in strategies and traps. If it can be sabotaged I can do it"

"But why did they have you doing pranks around the village."

"They didn't want my talent to be wasted. If I just sat around doing nothing then my skills would have took a dive."

"That doesn't explain why Iruka-sensei always yelled at you when you did a prank. Come to think of it was the one that caught you most of the time and he's a chunin."

"That was actually another part of the game. Iruka-sensei didn't know about it but if he caught me in the allotted time he got mission pay added in with his other pay. If sensei found out about the game he wouldn't play it and it was always fun seeing the gestures the recruits made when they were told that a chunin who didn't know about the game always won. And the game wasn't just for Anbu either, all chunin level nin and above were in on it. Why did you think they always joined in when they saw the chase? Now that I think about it the pay was for a B-rank mission."

Sasuke was speechless. "Why don't you prank anymore?"

"I decided that when I became a ninja I could instead use my expertise on missions, but I probably should have waited until I heard what genins did. These D-rank missions suck." The two sat in silence for a while before Naruto broke it. "Um, Sasuke, your brother killed your whole clan when he was thirteen right?" Naruto asked facing away from Sasuke.

"Not that it's any of your business, yes he did. Why are you asking?" Sasuke said his eyes taking on a murderous glow.

"Well I was just thinking that either your clan was a bunch of pansies or your brother is hella strong." Not paying attention to the grinding noise coming from Sasuke, Naruto continued. "But seeing as the Uchihas were Konoha's police force that handled both ninja and civilian problems, took the more dangerous missions and not only came back intact but with a completed mission, we can assume that at thirteen your brother rivaled the Hokage" Naruto paused to glance at Sasuke who once again wore a blank expression. "Then he won against the strongest of the Sanin, Orochimaru who had also abandoned the village, a few months later."

"Just where are you going with all of this Dobe." Sasuke said seething.

"I'm just saying that Itachi was one of the strongest people in the elemental countries at age thirteen. I don't think he's been sitting on his ass all this time. And what with him hanging around with other S-rank criminals you have no hope of beating him in this lifetime."

Sasuke then tried to attack Naruto, but he had been expecting this so he rolled out of the way. "Wait, wait one minute," he said holding his hands up in a placating manor.

"What I meant was, that you have no hopes of defeating him by yourself. What you should be doing, instead of going off on your own all the time, is build a team of skilled ninja to help you reach your goal. No matter how strong your brother is, he won't stand a chance against a diverse group of ninja that work well with each other."

Sasuke straightened out. "He defeated the entire Uchiha clan in one night. I doubt a group of half-trained ninja can stand up to his strength." At this Naruto smirked.

"I thought of that to. Itachi Uchiha was a trusted member of the clan who never gave anyone pause over his loyalties. So on that night the people going towards the screams immediately thought he was there to help, giving him the time he needed to dispose of them. He wasn't a genius for nothing Sasuke."

Sasuke stared at Naruto for ten minutes before asking a question that had been bothering him. "Where are you getting all this information?"

Naruto looked sheepish before replying. "I use henge to sneak into bars. While in a bar last week there was this old guy with long white hair and a scroll on his back. He was super drunk and started talking about how his team broke up and he was all alone. The name Uchiha was in one of his rants so I started questioning him. In the end I got most of that information."

Sasuke looked at Naruto like he was an idiot. "That guy could have been a random drunk making shit up."

"I know that. That's why I gave the Hokage his description and he told me that he was Jiraya of the Sanin, self-proclaimed pervert(in the distance you could hear someone shout "Super Pervert"),weakest of the Sanin, expert seal master, and he also taught the fourth Hokage."

Once again Sasuke was speechless. "I have to think about all of this. I'll see you tomorrow for missions." Sasuke said before walking home.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: I'll Kill That Thing**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it'd be called Gaara **

**Summary: Naruto has an idea that helps Sasuke defeat his brother.**

**Warning: Slight OOC Sasuke**

Sasuke had tossed and turned all night thinking about what Naruto had said. It was true that Itachi was already in the Anbu by the time he was his age. Sasuke still the inadequate younger brother was barely scraping by. He saw the other ninjas, he saw how much stronger they were, much faster, much smarter. But he was still given the title of genius. When his clan was alive his father pushed him and his brother to the point where Sasuke would pass out from exhaustion. Maybe Naruto was right, maybe he couldn't do this on his own. With that that Sasuke got ready for the day.

Sasuke was making his way to the bridge with a box of onigiri that he bought on his way to meet his team.

Arriving at the bridge he was unsurprised to find Sakura already there, looking as if she had spent the night on the bridge.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun I'm so happy you're here. I wanted to ask you if you'd maybe like to walk home together after practice, you know so we can get to know one another as teammates." She said blushing and holding her hands together in front of her.

"Hn"

Sasuke looked away leaning on the bridge. He planned to ignore Sakura just like every other day. Then he thought about Naruto and all his pranks.

"Sakura," at hearing her name Sakura became hopeful "why don't you try to get to know Naruto. He is also your teammate"

Sakura having no response only gaped at Sasuke. Was her precious Sasuke-kun finally thinking of someone else, someone else that was not her. Sakura always thought of Naruto as a nonessential. She was about to reply when she was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Ohayo mina-san" It was Naruto glad for a distraction Sakura hurriedly turned towards his voice.

"YOU'RE LA…."

Sakura had passed out from shock. Sasuke who was already facing Naruto when he came to the bridge had taken on a slight green tinge, not unlike the green Naruto was wearing.

You guessed it. Naruto deciding that today was the day to branch out his style had picked the one outfit in his closet not primarily orange. He was wearing a green spandex one piece with an orange sleeveless jacket and legwarmers. You could see every indent his body baring his private area, which Sasuke was thanking Kami for.

Taking in a deep breath and wondering when he stopped breathing Sasuke gained his wits about him and looked to the sky.

"Naruto, what are you wearing, and where did you get it?"

Smirking Naruto struck a pose. "Why teme, do you want one."

"Just, just answer the question idiot."

"Oi, well I got it from this guy named Gai. He was standing in the square by the ramen stand giving out these and talking about um… flaming youths, yeah. At first I wasn't going to get it, even though it was free, cause I thought it was laim. But Gai-san said that it would help in ninja training and it came with theses legwarmers. Aren't they awesome. Of course I needed a jacket for it, so a cut the sleeves and shortened one of my old jackets."

Sasuke just shook his head. There wasn't even a store he could have the satisfaction of burning, just some nut with an unfortunate name. But before he could tell Naruto to go home and change their sensei showed up.

As usual, Kakashi's head was in his book so he didn't see Naruto choice of clothing. "Alright everyone is here. I already got our new mission. We have to catch the Daimyo's wife's pet Tora the cat."

For some reason Kakashi had a sadistic edge to his voice, but that couldn't be right. It was just another boring D-rank.

"Oi, Kaka-sensei, I've been meaning to ask what are you reading?" Naruto said with his hands behind his head following his sensei. (Sakura woke up when Kakashi arrived)

"Well, Naruto, when a man and a woman," It was at that moment Kakashi turned towards the group and saw what Naruto was wearing. He seemed to freeze in his tracks, his eyes glazed over, he dropped his book and just stared.

"Kakashi-sensei"

"Kaka-sensei"

"Pfft" Team 7 said simultaneously.

Kakashi snapped out of it a few seconds later.

"Naruto, why are you dresses like Gai?"

"I thought about what you guys said about orange not being stealthy, so I wore something not so orange." Naruto explained as they continued towards the gates heading into the woods.

"Um, we'll talk about this after we catch the cat." Kakashi said looking purposely away from Naruto.

Finding the cat wasn't the problem, it was catching the little demon that was the problem. It dodged all attempts at catching it, Sasuke swore he saw it give him the finger. (not aloud of course) After half an hour of trying to corner it Sasuke decided they needed a plan.

"Naruto, Sakura come here."

"Don't order me around teme, now what do you want?" He said from in front of him.

"Naruto, I need you to set some traps in the places you think the cat will hide. Sakura you take this sack and when the cat is trapped come up behind it, but be careful it behaves like a wild animal when cornered. Oh, and Naruto, nonlethal taps only. I'll herd it into the trap"

"Why is Naruto setting up traps? He'll probably mess it up. You should do it Sasuke-kun, you're so brilliant." Sakura said with little hearts in her eyes.

"Get to it Naruto." Naruto walked off to prepare. "Sakura, Naruto is our teammate. Like they said in the academy, 'Your team is your family'. You don't treat your family like you do Naruto. Now take this sack and get ready."

While Sasuke walked off Sakura thought about what he just now and earlier that day. Was she really being inconsiderate. But Naruto didn't say anything about it and everyone else acting the same way. But now that she thought about it she was constantly screaming at him, putting him down, and hitting him. That's not what family does at all. Maybe she should hang out with Naruto once or twice, not a date, but to get to know him as a teammate.

Naruto had walked away from Sakura and Sasuke feeling down. Sakura thought he would mess up. She like everyone else always thought the worst of him. But he wasn't totally depressed. Sasuke trusted him with a big part of the mission and he was going to prove that he could do it. So he starting setting up different traps that would incapacitate the creature they were chasing.

"Target spotted, brown fur bow on the ear."

Sasuke had just spotted the spawn that they were tracking. He slowly came up behind it while it was drinking from a stream that ran through the woods. As soon as he was behind it he thought that he could probably catch it now. As soon as he thought that Tora was gone. All he saw was her tail disappearing in the bushes. Cursing he chased her towards Naruto position.

"Number one this is raven, target is coming your way."

"Copy, number one in position."

"Pink lady, are you in position."

"Copy raven, I'm in position."

The next few minutes went by fast. Tora seeing she was surrounded once again tried to get away under some bushes but ran into one of Naruto's traps. In five seconds she was hanging from a tree by her hind legs. Seeing this Sakura moved in with the sack up and ready. The cat knowing it was trapped decided to go down fighting. It started swinging back and forth and as soon as Sakura was in range it lashed out with its claws. It got ahold of the front of Sakura's dress with its claws and proceded to press its nails into her skin and drag down. Sakura had gash marks from mid-stomach down. Seeing their teammate in distress Naruto and Sasuke came forward (Sasuke grabbing the sack Sakura dropped). Naruto grabbed Sakura and pulled her away from the cat while Sasuke came up behind it while it kept trying to lash out at Sakura and quickly put it in the sack. Closing the sack he turned towards his teammates.

Naruto had Sakura on the ground with her dress ripped open at the side where he cut it to check the wound.

"How is it Naruto." Sasuke asked while keeping a firm hold on the bag.

"Its nothing serious, just seven diagonal gashes ending above the waist line. Its bleeding sluggishly. I just need to clean and disinfect it."

"Alright get that done. I'll call the team leader." Sasuke said making eye contact with Sakura who wore a strained smile.

"Team leader this is raven."

"Raven this is team leader, report in."

"Target captured. Pink lady injured nothing serious. Number one is applying treatment. We'll at the meeting site in six minutes."

"Nah, we'll walk back together." said Kakashi from behind Sasuke

Turning around he saw Kakashi standing over Naruto and Sakura watching as Naruto put bandages on the disinfected areas.

**Sorry my chapters are so short, but im easily distracted and hate typing.**

**Review its the only thing keeping authors alive.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three: Drinking and Missions**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns all.**

After returning Tora to the daimyo's wife they decided to retire for the day.

Naruto was already making plans to go out drinking, but he'd have to disguise himself as someone else because Iruka was starting to catch on. (Probably from all the people who claim he could hold his liquor like at pro at some random parties.)

Changing into a black outfit he henged into one of the gate guards he knew to be on duty tonight (due to a mix up in the hokage's schedule) Making his way to a popular bar that served civilians and ninjas Naruto ordered some food and a drink while taking in the crowd. Noting only a few new faces Naruto thought tonight was going to be boring. It didn't even look like any other ninjas were there.

Making up his mind Naruto left after eating his food. Making his way through Konoha he became bored with the lack of nighttime activities going on. Dropping his henge in an alleyway he decided to go see what Iruka was up to. He had the night off so he was probably at his apartment.

When Naruto got there Iruka answered the door in no time. It looked as if he were haggard from working all morning.

"Are you o.k. Iruka-sensei?" Naruto said stepping into the apartment.

"I'm fine Naruto. A ninja's work is just never done."

Naruto could see that as Iruka's table was littered with papers and scrolls.

"I thought you had the night off? That's why I came over, so we could hang out." Naruto said looking downtrodden.

"Sorry Naruto, There was just so much to do today it leaked over into now. I've been working nonstop since getting home."

"Don't you think you need a break? How about we watch one late night movie or play a game?" Naruto said pulling the kicked puppy face.

"O.k. one movie, but I'm going to still to work." Iruka said clearing off a space on the couch.

The movie wasn't all that good but Naruto enjoyed Iruka's company. Iruka would even look at the screen sometimes.

Feeling tired of being ignored, Naruto decided to see what was so important to Iruka. Lying down on his shoulder he continued to watch television. Iruka would notice if he just blatantly looked at the papers.

He closed his eyes and turned into Iruka's shoulder to get into a better position.

It looked like a mission report. He could only pick out a few words through his slitted eyes.

'C-rank…escort mission…..Wave country….bandits…bridge builder…..drunken….yesterday…..shinobi needed'

Closing his eyes Naruto thought about what he read. There was an escort mission to the wave yesterday that no one took. It sounded easy enough. If he could get is team in early then they could get the mission. They would have gotten it yesterday if Sakura wasn't injured. He would have to handle this carefully.

Jerking "awake" he got off of Iruka's shoulder.

"Iruka-sensei, I forgot I have an early day tomorrow." He said standing up.

"Oh, well you know you could sleep here Naruto. You look tired." Iruka said looking up from his paperwork concerned.

"No, no that's alright. I still have to get my supplies ready for tomorrow. It's been fun sensei."

With that Naruto left making a beeline for the Uchiha district. He never liked going there even when it was full of people. To him it was creepy. He didn't see how Sasuke could stay there. Following Sasuke's chakra signature he came upon a building that was slightly bigger than the other ones. He guessed this is where the clan head used to stay. Going in the house he was surprised about how undefended it was. No traps, no alarms nothing. Coming to the door Sasuke was behind he slowly opened it, and had to stop himself from laughing at the sight that greeted him.

It looked as if this was Sasuke's room before the massacre. It was done in light blue with little boats on the wallpaper. There was a toy box in the corner of the room and everything else you'd expect to find in an eight year olds room.

Calming down he walked over to Sasuke's bed. When he was close enough to see him he almost lost the composure he'd gained. There in the bed was Sasuke wearing normal pajamas. In one hand he held a kunai and in the other a green dinosaur. It took him a while before he could calm down and leave a note attached to the dinosaur. After that he booked it out of the part of town.

Next was Sakura's house. He didn't expect her to have any traps because her parents were civilian.

Going up to her window he saw that he was wrong. She had her window trapped in an academy style. If he opened the window it would pull on a string that was attached to some part of her body waking her up. She no doubt had some type of weapon on her.

This would be hard to bypass for any genin, but Naruto was a master of traps.

Taking out a kunai he opened the window and in a fast move cut the string before it could pull taunt.

Walking over to Sakura he saw that one hand was under her pillow, probably where she kept a kunai, while the other was curled around her body. In a move that belied his pranking nature he left the note attached to the kunai under the pillow.

Going back to the window he came to another dilemma, putting the trap back together.

In a brilliant move (that I can't explain XD) Naruto was once again outside. As the window slid shut Sakura jerked up feeling a pull on her toe simultaneously bringing up her kunai in a defensive position.

Looking around for danger she settled down as she spotted none. Settling back down she tensed up again as she saw something attached to her kunai. Fearing an explosive tag she slowly turned it around careful not to remove it. She knew they could be turned on from either being touched or triggered.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she noted it was an official notice to report to the Hokage's office early in the morning.

Deciding to update her trap tomorrow Sakura went back to sleep.

By the time Sakura looked at the note Naruto was already halfway to Kakashi's apartment.

He was thinking about how to get the note inside without being killed. He had heard horror stories from some of the Anbu about the traps in Kakashi's house (not that the Anbu knew he was listening)1

As he was dreading knocking on the door, the only real option avalable to him, he was suddenly surrounded by Anbu.

"Uzumaki you have been sighted doing suspicious things at the homes of Konoha citizens and shinobi. What is your reason for doing this. Note that if it is pranks I am authorized to detain you, if treason then you will die."

Momentarily scared by their appearance took note of the Anbu. Cat was speaking and on his team were boar and sparrow.

"None of the above. I was just leaving notes for my teammates for a meeting time." Naruto was long ago desensitized to the Anbu mannerisms so wasn't alarmed about the death thing.

"I was actually in need of someone of your profession Anbu-san. I need to get this note to Kakashi." He said holding up a note. If he didn't hang around the Anbu all the time when he was younger he wouldn't have noticed boar's flinch at the mention of Kakashi's apartment.

"Read it if you like." He said holding out the note in a non-threating manner.

Taking the note cat chuckled after he read it.

"This is written on the Hokage's personal paper Uzumaki. Hand over the rest of it that you have and we will deliver your letter."

Grumbling Naruto slowly reached into his pockets before taking out five stacks of the paper.

"That was really hard to get you know." Naruto said as the Anbu took it.

"I can imagine it was." Cat said as he set the paper ablaze ignoring the indignant yelp.

"Go back to your apartment. If you are seen out again tonight we will detain you." Cat said leaping away.

Grumbling again Naruto made his way back home.

Going inside he set his alarm for hell o'clock2 and set out his outfit and weapons before setting back up his traps to go to sleep. He ideally wondered as he was drifting off if Kakashi could give him some pointers on home defense.

1 He heard the Anbu during one of the trap exercises he set up for them. He had been comparing Kakashi's and Naruto's traps.

2 It's a time when the sun was supposed to come up but said fuck it and went back to sleep.


End file.
